Marshall's memoir drops names, laments shift to action over dialogue

Penny Marshalllikes to nickname the movie stars she's worked with. Robin Williams, whom she directed in "Awakenings," goes by "Robbo." She called Madonna, co-star of "A League of Their Own," "Mo," and Robert De Nirois simply "Bob." As for Tom Hanks, who's appeared in two of her movies, Marshall sticks with his given name. "He's easy," she says. "Tom does whatever you ask of him."

Marshall details encounters with A-listers after making her transition from "Laverne & Shirley" sitcom star to movie director in her new memoir, "My Mother Was Nuts."

Although she helmed hits like "Big," "A League of Their Own" and "The Preacher's Wife" while steering De Niro to an Oscar nomination in rare-disease drama "Awakenings," Marshall never fancied herself an expert on movie technology. She says. "I don't know one lens from another. That's not my job. It's the cinematographer's job. But I can talk to people."

She elaborates: "You need to see what the actor needs. This one wants to be talked to privately. That one doesn't mind if you block it for them. Just tell me the truth and I'll adapt to it."

Marshall credits her success in part to having a "great phone book" filled with the names of talented friends. "Movie stars are insecure like everyone else," she says. "That's why they go into acting! I was insecure too, but I was also fearless. I've never been afraid to call someone up or ask a question if I don't even know the right terms, because I'm not up on the technical things."

Marshall's last movie, "Riding in Cars With Boys" with Drew Barrymore, came out in 2001. Studios today rarely finance the kind of movie she's interested in making. "All they care about is things that sell overseas, so it's a lot of action, people in metal outfits and car crashes, vampires," Marshall says. "There's not a lot of dialogue, whereas I tell a story. I don't like blood and guts. I want you to laugh and cry. That's what I do."

A new reality for documentary director

First-time feature filmmaker Spencer McCallexplores an alternate reality game gone terribly wrong in his crime mystery "The Institute," which screens Thursday and next Sunday at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

McCall, who previously directed the documentary short "Rodeos Are Special," works as a graphic designer and teaches motion graphics at San Francisco State University. For "The Institute," he incorporates found footage, comic-strip panels, animation and footage that he accumulated while shooting video for a San Francisco gaming project, the Games of Nonchalance.

Growing up Chopra not a traditional childhood

In his new documentary, "Decoding Deepak," Gotham Chopramakes it clear he did not have a conventional childhood. His father, alternative medicine guru Deepak Chopra, spent much of his time away from home traveling the world and convening with legions of followers ranging from Lady Gaga to Michael Jacksonon matters of profound spiritual import. "My father never attended a soccer game or played catch with me in the backyard, but if he had not been so fixated on his career, I wouldn't been exposed to as many of these opportunities, and for that I'm very grateful," says Gotham.

Gotham, 35, got a chance to spend a year's worth of quality time with his famous dad during the making of "Decoding Deepak," which follows Chopra senior on travels to Thailand, the banks of a river in India and points in between.

Gotham, who previously witnessed carnage in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Sri Lanka while working as a war correspondent, is now himself the father of a 5-year-old son. He says, "I'm glad I made this film now. There's some cynicism in the movie that might have gone over the line had I made this documentary earlier in my life." {sbox}